Rating: 6/6

Saurer Axtman of the Stone Berlin Groundbreaking Collaboration Series #09 by Stone Brewing & Todd Haug (Ex-Surly brewing brewmaster) is a 9% ABV Überized Berliner Weisse brewed with Ginger Root & Citrus Hystrix Leaf

Label:

Have guitar, will travel. Check. Have mash paddle, will travel. Check. Have invitation to Berlin to brew, will travel. Hell yeah. Cue our friend Todd Haug. He checked all those boxes and joined us to make this inspired and unique creation. Our Stone Berlin Brewmaster Thomas Tyrell has spent many years studyingand brewing versions of the consummate Berlin style, the Berliner Weisse. Todd was intrigued with the idea of überizing (wasn’t a real word before, but it is now) the style and wantedto further überize (how quickly a new word can find its wayinto the lexicon) with the addition of ginger root and Citrus Hystrix leaf. They worked perfectly, as you’ll see. Todd, Thomasand Greg all agreed they’d never tasted anything quitelike it before, and that they all loved it. So now, it has traveled time and space to you. Check it!

Our dream to be the first American craft brewery to independently build, own and operate a brewery in Europe has become a reality. Located in a historic 1901 building, our state of the art brewhouse and destination restaurant in the Mariendorf neighborhood is a true thing of beauty! As promised, we invited some of our best friends in craft brewing to create an exceptional series of celebratory beers. We hope you enjoy the international camaraderie that went into making these fourteen truly groundbreaking collaborations!

MIT STOLZ GEBRAUT IN BERLIN

==Introduction==

In 2014, Stone was raising money to open a brewery in Berlin, Germany. It would be the first time an American craft brewery would open up a business in Europe. For Germany who has Bavarian laws on the beer making process, craft beer would no coincide with their laws. However, Stone being some crazy arrogant bastards were able to make their way into the market and were successful to open up shop. At the time, I had donated money on promised collaborations with different breweries. Mainly some of the ones I like such as Brew Dog, Lost Abbey, The Bruery, Surly and even Devil’s Gate/Will Wheaton. So, with the donations I made in that year, I was wondering if I would ever see a return on my investment. Long behold, Stone contacted me to inform that they were going to release the beers and so today I bring the Surly/Todd Haugg collaboration.

As of this writing, I think it is very fitting to not include the Surly name and just go with Todd. The cray thing is that he started working for Three Floyds who are also Heavy Metal as fuck!! So mainly, you can also say that this beer is Surly/3 Floyds/Stone collab. Crazy right? It doesn’t get more rockin’ than a beer that was made with a brewer who is also a musician from Speed Metal band, Powermad. It’s no surprised that even though this brew is not dark as fuck!, it goes to show that maybe something amazing can come from this German Imperial style. Let’s check it out, cheers!

Aromas:
Huge greapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, kumquats, sweet limes, green tea, agave nectar, lychees, stone fruit peaches, apricot, mango, mint, farmhouse hay, cant sugar, honey dew melon, salty tejuino maize drink, tamarind, pineapple, wine grapes, sage and coriander spice hints.

Flavors:
Rich grape fruits, manadarins, tangerines, oranges, sweet limes, lemons, limes, kumquats, passion fruit, pineapple, kiwi, Chardonay notes, farmhouse hay funky notes, coriander spice hints, salty tejuino maize drink, tamarind, Rich Stone fruits, Peach, apricots, lychees, mango, cane sugar, herbal green tea, Black tea, ginger spice, graham crackers, honey dew melon, cantaloupe, agave nectar, Lechugilla agave drink, jack fruit, banana notes, mild apples flavor and cane stalk.

Aftertaste:
Finishes in a huge rush of citrus and citrus complexities ranging from all the spectrum of sweet, bitter, sour, flavors: Ginger, grapefruit, salt, oranges, lemon, lime, agave, green tea, farmhouse funk, stone fruits, jack fruit, lychee, mandarin, tangerines, herbs, 
No alcohol in the taste, hazy full body pale golden body, smooth, crisp, refreshing and effervescent mouthfeel along with a sipping drinkability.

Overall:
Quite possibly, the best Berliner Weisse I have ever had, aside from the Freetail Cherry Berliner I once had from my friend Aaron Mendiola. So much complex fruit and spice and flavors almost leaning into the hazy IPA realm but its not even there. This is not an IPA, no this is very different! Only two demons or demon like creatures can come up with such forbidden epicness. I loved this one even since I first had it on the draft that it was one that was worth the praise. I love all the beers from this series so far but this one sure was damn worth it even if it was a light looking beer. Hell, even I had my prejudgement and ohhhh boy, was I wrong. It kicked my ass like I wasn’t expecting. I highly recommend this one!

Anime Corner:
Lydia Deetz from the Beetlejuice series was chosen in this pairing mainly on the grounds that I needed a character that went way back to the rock days but also paid tribute to the other dark arts of the gothic and spooky scene. When I was a kid and even today, Beetlejuice and Lydia are still one of my favorite dynamic duos! I have not done many pairings with them and the pairing came from the special occasion of bringing the special Surly/Todd Haug collab with Stone.